#  Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard 

 



  [### National Institute of Archaeological Research of France (Inrap) hails collaboration with the SoHP’s Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Archaeoscience

 ](https://www.inrap.fr/l-inrap-et-le-max-planck-harvard-research-center-archaeoscience-ancient-20099) 

   ![Michael McCormick and Inrap representatives](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-06/capture_decran_2025-06-23_174411.jpg?h=50da6738&itok=4KMxTPtQ) 

 

 

 

  [### Breakthrough: Ancient DNA illuminates malaria’s impact across human history

 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLkRKdjDwr8) 

   ![Image of Dr. Michel and Malaria Mosquito](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/shp/files/malaria_slide.jpg?h=92d1edbf&itok=oKt4bIrt) 

 

 

 

  [### SoHP Steering Committee Welcomes Professor Kaja Tally-Schumacher!

 ](https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/kaja-tally-schumacher/) 

   ![Image of Dr. Tally-Schumacher](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/Untitled%20%28Medium%20Banner%20%28US%29%20%28Landscape%29%29.png?h=22a1630f&itok=7onkYPyO) 

 

 

 

  [### Prof Michael McCormick gives Mid-Year Commencement remarks

 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQkZLZPu05I&t=182s) 

   ![Prof McCormick alongside other commencement speakers](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/12-25_MidYearGraduation_Unedited_JY-91.jpg?h=0bfc698d&itok=41NZxEhL) 

 

 

 

  [### SoHP Undergraduate Archaeoscientists’ Blog

 ](https://scienceofthehumanpast.wordpress.com/) 

   ![image of bocca-della-verita stone](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/shp/files/bocca-della-verita.jpg?itok=C_EjBwZP) 

 

 

 

  [### SoHP Steering Committee Member elected to American Philosophical Society

 ](https://www.amphilsoc.org/) 

   ![Scott Edwards shaking hands with the President of the American Philosophical Society upon his induction as a member](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/shp/files/screenshot_2025-01-28_at_11.26.26_am_0.png?h=3bed1078&itok=EsCGYril) 

 

 

 

  [### Dr. McCormick elected to Institut de France

 ](https://aibl.fr/membres-associes/mccormick-michael/) 

   ![Michael McCormick](/sites/g/files/omnuum9311/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/michael-mccormick.jpg?itok=a8tmNKtm) 

 

 

 

  

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## **Welcome to the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard (SoHP)**

We are a supra-departmental, cross-divisional and inter-school network that brings historians, archaeologists and other scholars together with scientists to chart bold new answers to the age-old question: what is history? Synthesizing the **liberal arts** and the **sciences**, SoHP serves as a center for scholarly programming and innovative new courses and fosters a network of new research collaborations across departments and disciplines.   
  
The[ **Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Archaeoscience**](https://www.archaeoscience.org/) is one pillar of the new intellectual ecosystem emerging from cascading archaeoscientific advances and these collaborations. We hope to develop a certificate program and/or an undergraduate major or minor as well as postgraduate degree programs that will attract students interested in redrawing the map of the human past with the tools of 21st-century science and history, archaeology, and all the liberal arts.



 

##  SoHP In the News 

 



  [### Solar storms, ice cores and nuns’ teeth: the new science of history

 ](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/20/solar-storms-ice-cores-and-nuns-teeth-inside-the-new-science-of-history) February 20, 2024 

 

   [### The Roman Empire’s Cosmopolitan Frontier

 ](https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2023/12/roman-empire-genetic-research-harvard) December 07, 2023 

 

   [### Ancient DNA of 136 Balkan individuals reveals one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Fall of Rome and the Slav migration

 ](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867423011352?dgcid=coauthor#app2) December 07, 2023 

 

   [### Upcoming CMES Event on October 5th: Investigating the Earthquakes of the Past Centuries: Behind the Scenes

 ](https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/investigating-earthquakes-past-centuries-behind-scenes) October 03, 2023 

 

   [### Historical DNA Study Connects Living People to Enslaved and Free African Americans at Early Ironworks

 ](https://hms.harvard.edu/news/historical-dna-study-connects-living-people-enslaved?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020230808%20(1)) August 08, 2023 

 

  

 

 [ SoHP In the News arrow\_circle\_right ](/news)